Not a Knot
by Chibimono Akuno
Summary: Boredom finds Luffy with a red string pulled from his shirt, and he and Zoro in knots... or are they knots? [ZoLu shounen ai]


**Title: ** Not a Knot  
**Author: ** Chibimono Akuno  
**Fandom: ** One Piece  
**Pairing:** Zoro x Luffy  
**Rating: ** G  
**Word Count: ** 850 words  
**Warnings: ** ;-; Fluff. Always with the fluff.  
**Disclaimers:** Not mine. Just pretending.  
**A/N: ** This plays on the "Red Thread" legend.

**Not a Knot**  
_by Chibimono Akuno_

Luffy was easily distracted, though he was also easily entertained. But a bored Luffy was a miserable Luffy, as well as an annoying Luffy.

After being shoved away or shut out by all his other nakama, Luffy plunked down in front of his sleeping first mate and pouted. He stared hard at Zoro, training his eyes on the swordsman as he leaned back against the main mast and snored away. Unfortunately for Luffy, no vicious sea storm or barrage of raiders could wake up Zoro as he napped away, and thus Luffy's staring went unnoticed.

Huffing, Luffy proceeded to flop around in boredom, laying back and shuffling and rolling from side to side. A tiny jerk on his shirt stopped him and caused him to sit up. His shirt had caught on one of the deck's boards and pulled a string loose. In fascination, Luffy pulled at the string, and pulled and pulled until the hem of his shirt was unraveled.

Now Luffy had a long piece of red string, and still nothing to do. Or did he? Thinking back, the rubber boy tried to remember a game Usopp once showed him with string. He tied one end to the other and weaved the loop of string through his fingers and... what? What was it that Usopp did?

Thinking harder, Luffy realized he needed another person. Heaving a big sigh, the captain was once again pouting. Why did everyone have to be so busy...

Zoro shifted in his sleep, his arms unfolding from across his chest to rest on his lap. It was as if someone somewhere was taking pity on the rubber boy. With a big grin, Luffy snatched up Zoro's hands and tried to weave the string around his fingers...

Except the string was still looped around his...

And in the end, he had a rather large, red knot, with both his and his first mate's fingers caught up in it.

"That's not how the game is supposed to go," Luffy whined.

A bleary green eye opened to look at Luffy. "Game? What the hell are you doin', Luffy?"

"Zoro!" Luffy grinned brightly at the swordsman. "I was trying to play a game that Usopp showed me! But... I don't think I did it right. All I got is a knot..."

Opening both eyes to stare down at the knot in question, Zoro sighed and began to wiggle his fingers. They certainly were tied up, but he moved his fingers and worked at the strings until Luffy's right hand was free... then Zoro's right hand...

And finally they were both free, save for one end of the red string tied to Luffy's left pinky finger... and the other end tied to Zoro's.

"Two knots left, Zoro," Luffy pointed out.

Zoro blinked at the string, and then at Luffy. "Uh... they're not knots."

Luffy was a bit confused. "They're knot knots? You mean double knots?"

"No, idiot," the swordsman said, flushing a little. "They _are not_ knots. They're... a link."

Now completely lost, Luffy just blinked at Zoro.

Sighing, Zoro scratched at the back of his neck with his free hand. "On my island, they had this... legend. About red threads. And... I never thought it would happen to me..."

A small smile curved the corners of Zoro's mouth as he looked at his captain, who was still rather clueless. Free hand cupping Luffy's chin, Zoro held him gently as he leaned in for a soft touch of his lips to his captain's.

For a split second Luffy did nothing, just feeling the tender pressure against his lips. But reality set in quickly and Luffy jerked back, blushing furiously and rubbing his mouth with the back of his own free hand.

"Mou, Zoro! What are you doing?" the captain sputtered.

"Sealing the link," Zoro said, still smiling that tiny smile. "On my island, they believed you are tied to your most important person by a red thread of fate, just like this. We may not always wear the string... but the link will always be there. We'll... always be together."

A look of intense concentration crossed Luffy's face then, and he stared at the string attached to both their little fingers. However, the moment was short lived as Sanji called the crew in for dinner. Luffy hopped to his sandaled feet, hardly patient enough to wait for Zoro to untie the string from his finger.

The moment he was free, he was off like a bullet towards the galley... only to turn around and rush back. Putting an arm around Zoro's neck, Luffy manged to pull his first mate into a little kiss much like Zoro had given him.

And then Luffy was gone again, running for the galley. He did a little skip and turned to look back at Zoro, smiling over his shoulder as he called back to him.

"Together forever, Zoro!"

Nodding at his captain, Zoro untied the other end of the string from his finger, and wrapped the thread around the grip of _Wadou Ichimonji_ , tying it there for safe keeping.

"Always."

_owari_


End file.
